Trading system on user commitments to participate in questionnaires and other interactions

ABSTRACT

A questionnaire network makes it possible to create, disseminate, conduct questionnaires or surveys on mobile handsets and to collect results for processing and storage. The questionnaire network is powered by a questionnaire creation tool and a questionnaire trading system. A questionnaire trading system for QTime makes it possible for producers of QTime, such as carriers, and consumers of QTime, such as product manufacturers and advertising companies, to buy or sell QTime in bulk and to trade in QTime as a commodity. In one embodiment, supplementary information and preambles that are part of a questionnaire are captured in audio form using the questionnaire creation tool and are stored selectively along with the questionnaire in a carrier&#39;s questionnaire repository or separately at a hosted repository.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of, makes reference to, claimspriority to and claims benefit from, the U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/010,985, entitled “QUESTIONNAIRE NETWORK FOR MOBILE HANDSETS ANDA TRADING SYSTEM FOR CONTRACTS ON USER COMMITMENTS TO ANSWERQUESTIONNAIRES,” filed on Dec. 13, 2004, docket number BRR2003US04-U1.The complete subject matter of the above-referenced United StatesProvisional Patent Application is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety.

This patent application makes reference to U.S. patent application Ser.No. 10/985,702, entitled “QUESTIONNAIRE NETWORK FOR MOBILE HANDSETS,”filed on Nov. 10, 2004, docket number BRR2003US03-U1. The completesubject matter of the above-referenced United States patent applicationis hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[Not Applicable]

MICROFICHE/COPYRIGHT REFERENCE

[Not Applicable]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic devices, such as mobile phones and personal digitalassistants (PDA's), often contain small screens with very limitedviewing area. They are constrained in terms of how much information canbe displayed, and in terms of user interaction capabilities. Thekeyboards on cell phones, for example, are not conducive for user dataentry, and only brief user inputs can be solicited from a user withoutannoying the user.

User interaction in real time, such as those provided for a user using aPC on the Internet, are often not possible for a user using a cellphone. For example, the amount of textual information cannot be a fullpage of textual information that is typically made available o a PC.Graphical information also cannot be large. A typical website provides arich multi-media experience. The same website, when accessed from a cellphone, would be not only unreadable but also frustrating. Thus, there ispresenting user with information in order to solicit user input when theuser is using a cell phone rather than a PC is a big problem.

Cell phones are therefore a device for which traditional websites areill prepared to provide information. In addition, surveys orquestionnaires that are created for Internet based access via a PC arenot appropriate for cell phone access. Asking one or more detailedquestions with information on how to answer them is possible on a webpage that is accessed from a PC. However, the same web page would beunmanageable and difficult to navigate on a cell phone with a small LCDscreen and small keyboard for user input.

Quite often, for marketing purposes, a manufacturer or retailer tries tosolicit information and feedback from a customer. Typically, flyers anddocuments are mailed to customers for them to fill in and send it back.The Internet has facilitated some of these interactions. A user may berequested to visit a website and answers a lot of questions. However,contacting a user is a problem. The manufacturer has to determine someuser specific information such as addresses, etc. in order to be able tosend them questionnaires or request them to provide feedback. Contactingusers via postal services or email for making them answer questionnairesor provide feedback, or answer surveys is therefore time consuming,expensive and labor intensive. Users tend to ignore emails sent to themby considering them to be spam. Postal mails are also often ignored forseveral reasons, including their association with junk mail.

Often, a question asked of an individual elicits responses that mayobviate the need to ask further questions. Unfortunately, traditionalquestionnaires are not setup to take advantage of users responses.Without detailed instructions provided, questionnaires that try to guideusers to specific questions based on their potential answers end upbeing confusing to a user. Therefore, traditional questionnaires are notflexible or dynamically arranged.

Currently, if a manufacturer, marketing organization or advertisingcompany has to purchase a block of “questionnaire time” (QTime) to beused for conducting surveys or questionnaires, there is no mechanisms orinstitutions to purchase them from. Similarly, if a carrier wants tosell accumulated QTime to manufacturers of consumer products oradvertising and marketing companies, there is no forum or salesenvironment for them to sell them in.

Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditionalapproaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the artthrough comparison of such systems with the present invention as setforth in the remainder of the present application with reference to thedrawings.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aspects of the present invention may be seen in a questionnaire tradingsystem that facilitates the trading in QTime, i.e. buying and selling ofQTime in bulk based on prices quoted, the prices computed based oncurrent supply of QTime and on forecasts of demand for QTime.

Aspects of the present invention may be seen in a questionnaire networkfor mobile handsets that facilitates display of questionnaires andcollecting responses provided by users. The questionnaire network maycomprise a query data population system for creating a questionnaire.The questionnaire comprises a plurality of questions, The questionnairecreation tool comprises a preamble creator for creating at least one oftextual, audio or video preambles and user interface screens to createthe plurality of questions. Each of the plurality of questions maycomprise a question preamble, a question body and an optionalsupplementary information.

Aspects of the invention are also found in a QTime trading system forfacilitating trading in QTime. The QTime trading system comprises aQSupply database for storing and managing a dynamic supply of QTime anda QPricing engine communicatively coupled to the QSupply database. Thetrading activity manager is communicatively coupled to the QPricingengine and the QSupply database.

Aspects of the invention are also found in a questionnaire creation toolthat facilitates creation and storage of questionnaires for mobiledevice. The questionnaire creation tool comprises an audio capturecomponent that is used to create an audio preamble and a GUI screens toprovide a user screens to create a plurality of questions and associatedanswers for the questionnaire. It also comprises a storage interfacethat is used to store the questionnaire in a carrier's questionnairerepository to be disseminated to a mobile device.

In one embodiment of the questionnaire creation tool the storageinterface is used to store the questionnaire in an external hostedrepository.

In another embodiment of the questionnaire creation tool thequestionnaire is digitally signed before it is saved.

Aspects of the invention are also found in a questionnaire networkcomprising a wireless carrier network, a mobile device that operates inthe wireless carrier network and a customer attributes associated withthe mobile device, that is determined based on the mobile devicespecifications. The wireless carrier network employs the customerattributes to determine a participant in a survey. The wireless carriernetwork also targets the participant for the survey and communicates aquestionnaire that is retrieved from a questionnaire repository.

In one embodiment, the carrier network tracks the record of theparticipant in completing the questionnaire. It also determines if theparticipant makes a good target for subsequent surveys andquestionnaires.

In one embodiment, the questionnaire network also comprises aquestionnaire creation tool that makes it possible to createquestionnaires and surveys. The wireless carrier network disseminatesand conducts questionnaires and surveys on the mobile device. Thewireless carrier network also collects from the device, a results forprocessing and storage.

Aspects of the invention are also found in a method of trading in QTime.The method comprises contracting, by a telecom network, with a pluralityof subscribers, to participate in a minimum number of questionnaires inexchange for a rebate or a payment, wherein the contracting commits eachof the plurality of subscribers to a QTime contract that specifies aQTime quota. It also comprises aggregating the QTime contracts from theplurality of subscribers to create a QTime aggregated contract,supplying the QTime aggregated contract to a QTime trading system fortrading purposes and receiving trading requests from at least one QTimeconsumer to buy or sell the QTime aggregated contract. In addition itcomprises executing the trading request.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention may beappreciated from a review of the following detailed description of thepresent invention, along with the accompanying figures in which likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The numerous objects and advantages of the present invention may bebetter understood by those skilled in the art by reference to theaccompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a QTime trading system that comprisesa QSupply database that gathers information from one a more carriernetworks that have a supply of QTime, a QTime Demand Forecastingcomponent that provides information on the estimated demand for QTime(in the market) based on historical data and based on existing tradinginformation maintained by the Trading activity manager, and a QPricingengine that determines pricing for trades of QTime based on currentsupply, current demand and forecasted demand;

FIG. 2 is a perspective block diagram of a questionnaire creation toolnetwork that comprises a questionnaire creation tool (QCT) thatfacilitates the creation of multi-media questionnaires for mobilewireless devices, such as mobile phones, a hosted repository that isused to host entire questionnaires or subsets of questionnaires, acarrier's questionnaire repository that is also capable of storing anddisseminating entire questionnaires or subsets thereof, and a mobiledevice;

FIG. 3 is a main screen of a web-based questionnaire creation tool (QCT)that facilitates the population of questionnaires and surveys viaweb-based interactions;

FIG. 4 is a main screen of a questionnaire creation tool (QCT) that canbe run on a personal computer or a workstation and employed to createquestionnaires that contain a combination of textual and audiocomponents;

FIG. 5 is a questionnaire preamble screen of the questionnaire creationtool (QCT) that facilitates audio recording of questionnaire preambleand entry of textual components for a questionnaire preamble;

FIG. 6 is a add question screen 605 of the questionnaire creation tool(QCT) that facilitates entry of text for a question, entry of multiplechoices of answers associated with a questions, display of the textentered for the question, display of multiple choice answers for thequestions, and the storing of the question incorporation of the enteredinformation as part of the questionnaire; and

FIG. 7 is a questionnaire preamble screen of the questionnaire creationtool (QCT) with the recording actions window activated that facilitatesrecording of audio input for preamble and supplementary information forquestions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the interactions between amobile handset and a server within a carrier network, and, morespecifically, to the ability to create questionnaires for a mobilehandset, store them in a network, and disseminate them to collectresults.

FIG. 1 is a perspective diagram of a QTime trading system 109 thatcomprises a QSupply database 115 that gathers information from one amore carrier networks 107 that have a supply of QTime, a QTime DemandForecasting component 121 that provides information on the estimateddemand for QTime (in the market) based on historical data and based onexisting trading information maintained by the Trading activity manager119, and a QPricing engine that determines pricing for trades of QTimebased on current supply, current demand and forecasted demand. Amanufacturer of products 111 or a marketing company (or other consumersof QTime) can trade QTime or purchase QTime. The present inventionintroduces a new entity called QTime that is traded by the QTime tradingsystem 109. QTime represents a unit of Questionnaire/survey volume thatcan be traded, for which one or more suppliers provide a supply of QTimeso that the demand for QTime could be met. There are several categoriesof QTime that can be traded. QTime represents a unit of questionnaireopportunity that a mobile device subscriber has made a commitment tohonor, i.e. QTime may be construed to be a unit of commitment by somesubscriber to participate in a questionnaire/survey.

To make the consumption of QTime possible, a questionnaire network formobile handsets 105 is necessary, that facilitates creation anddissemination of questionnaires accompanied by user interaction andresults gathering activities. The user interaction is facilitated by aclient component in the mobile handsets, such a client component eithermade available by the manufacturer of the mobile handsets orsubsequently downloaded or otherwise installed by the user.

The designed questionnaire or survey questions are deposited into therepository—the creation and transfer facilitated by the creation tool.

Different categories of users are identified and managed in terms of howthey can participate in questionnaires and surveys and how they canbenefit from participating in such questionnaires/surveys.

The questionnaire/survey dissemination service is in the middle of theprocess of conducting surveys and questionnaires—it connects thecreators with the dissemination network. For example, it makes it easyfor product manufacturers to create the surveys and have themdisseminated.

A carrier may sign up with end-users who agree to answer at least 10questionnaires a month for a 50% discount on monthly phone bills. Thatway, the end user has incentives to participate in surveys andquestionnaires, and the carrier has a contract with the end-user thatthe carrier can trade r sell n a secondary market.

The carrier can sell this contract to marketing companies ormanufacturers of products, thus a secondary market in the contracts iscreated and supported by the present invention. Thus, the commitment byend users to answer surveys and questionnaires can be sold as contractsto marketing companies and manufacturers. This provides an effective wayto take advantage of “real estate” of the end-user, i.e. the mobiledevice and user time that can been contracted out by the end-user.

In general, customer attributes that are known to the carrier or to thequestionnaire service provider are employed in determining theparticipants in surveys and questionnaires. In addition, the trackrecord of the end-users in completing the previous surveys andquestionnaires are used to determine if they make good targets for nextset of surveys and questionnaires. Thus, answers provided by theend-users is used to determine if they make good candidates forsubsequent surveys or questionnaires.

In one embodiment, a marketing company provides profiles of targetedmarketing and the questionnaire service provider facilitates thecreation of a list of potential target users from the recipients ofprevious questioners/surveys or from the set of users that completedprevious questioners/surveys, and forwards list of potential targetusers to the carrier network for dissemination of the relevantquestionnaire/survey.

Thus, the present invention facilitates creation and marketing of amarket for questionnaire contracts. In particular, it provides a system,such as a website, wherein carriers can advertise the availablequestionnaire/survey “volume” and rates and manufacturers of products ormarketing companies can purchase them in ‘bulk’. Thus, a trading websiteis created for trading on questionnaire and surveys, similar tocommodity trading that is conducted online. Thus, producers of QTime andconsumers of QTime can trade in QTime. In general, a trading system fortrading on end-user commitments on participation in surveys,questionnaires, polls, consumer feedback, promotional activities, etc.makes it possible for bulk sales, bulk purchases and pricing based onsupply and demand, thus creating a commodities trading system for suchend-user commitments (such as QTime).

Typically, a questionnaire network comprises a plurality of mobilehandsets communicatively coupled to a QPlatform QManagement Server thatis typically located within a carrier network, a QStore accessible bythe QManagement Server and also by a QPlatform Data Populationcomponent, a management interface and a results and activity loggingdatabase.

FIG. 2 is a perspective block diagram of a questionnaire creation toolnetwork 205 that comprises a questionnaire creation tool (QCT) thatfacilitates the creation of multi-media questionnaires for mobilewireless devices, such as mobile phones, a hosted repository 211 that isused to host entire questionnaires or subsets of questionnaires, acarrier's questionnaire repository 207 that is also capable of storingand disseminating entire questionnaires or subsets thereof, and a mobiledevice 223. The QCT comprises GUI screens 215 used to enter textualcontent for questionnaires and assemble the questionnaire, an audiocapture component 221 that facilitates creation of new preambles, audiosupplementary information, etc. or the incorporation of pre-recordedaudio information for preambles, etc., a storage interface 217 thatfacilitates storage of entries questionnaires or subsets ofquestionnaires at the carrier's questionnaire repository 207 or at thehosted repository 211, and a security modules component 209 thatfacilitates encryption, secure communications, etc.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the QCT is capable ofcreating questionnaires and storing them in such a way that audio inputsfor preambles to questionnaires, individual questions or forsupplementary information are stored in the hosted repository 211 whiletextual components of the questionnaires with appropriate URLs (or someother references) to the stored audio (or multi-media) inputs are storedat the carrier's questionnaire repository 207 and disseminated to themobile device 223 by the carrier's questionnaire repository 207.

In one embodiment, the hosted repository 211 is external to a carrier'snetwork and stores all audio information for the questionnaire createdusing the QCT 209 while the carrier's questionnaire repository 207 isused to store the rest of the questionnaire (that has references to theaudio information stored in the hosted repository 211) that is retrievedby the mobile device 223. The mobile device 223 retrieves thequestionnaire stored in the carrier's questionnaire repository 207 and,when appropriate (or when initiated by the user) retrieves the audioinputs and plays them for the end-user.

In one embodiment, based on user preference, the QCT incorporates allaudio and textual content of a questionnaire into a self-contained XMLdocument and stores it in the carrier's questionnaire repository 207 foreventual testing and/or dissemination to the mobile device 223. In arelated embodiment, the QCT stores audio content of a questionnaireseparately in a website and places references to them (such as URL) inan XML document for the questionnaire stored it in the carrier'squestionnaire repository 207.

In general, the QCT also provides support for promoting a questionnairein terms of providing screens for the specification of end-user profileexpected to be used for the selection of end-users to answer thequestionnaires (or surveys, etc.). The QCT also promotes interactionwith the trading system in order to provide cost estimates to the usercreating the questionnaire. In addition, it can help the creator of thequestionnaire purchase a block of QTime from the trading system thatwill enable the carrier network to use the purchased block of QTime inits accounting/billing activities.

In general, a questionnaire creation tool network 205 makes it possibleto create, disseminate, conduct questionnaires or surveys on mobilehandsets and to collect results for processing and storage. Thequestionnaire creation tool network 205 is powered by a questionnairecreation tool 209 and a questionnaire trading system. A questionnairetrading system for QTime makes it possible for producers of QTime, suchas carriers, and consumers of QTime, such as product manufacturers andadvertising companies, to buy or sell QTime in bulk and to trade inQTime as a commodity. In one embodiment, supplementary information andpreambles that are part of a questionnaire are captured in audio formusing the questionnaire creation tool 209 and are stored selectivelyalong with the questionnaire in a carrier's questionnaire repository 207or separately at a hosted repository 211.

FIG. 3 is a main screen of a web-based questionnaire creation tool (QCT)that facilitates the population of questionnaires and surveys viaweb-based interactions. The main screen provides buttons to invoke otherscreens (or web pages) that facilitate the entry of preamble text forthe questionnaires, buttons for the optional recording of an audiopreamble by means of the start recording and stop recording buttons,buttons for the display of screens or web pages that facilitate creationof one or more questions and their multiple choice answers, a button tosave the questionnaire in an XML format either at a remote location oras a local file, and a done button to finish the questionnairepopulation process.

FIG. 4 is a main screen of a questionnaire creation tool (QCT) 405 thatcan be run on a personal computer or a workstation and employed tocreate questionnaires that contain a combination of textual and audiocomponents. The QCT 405 has three main tabs, a main commands tab for themain screen 407, an enter questionnaire preamble tab 411 for enteringquestionnaire preamble using textual input and audio input, and a addquestion tab for populating individual questions using textual and oraudio preamble, multiple choice textual entry, and supplementaryinformation using textual or audio inputs.

The main screen 407 comprises a sign the questionnaire button 417 todigitally sign the created questionnaires, a save the questionnairebutton 409 to save the questionnaire locally as an XML file and anupload questionnaire button 415 to save the questionnaire remotely at awebsite or database. The QCT 405 also comprises an open folder icon 419for opening previously created questionnaires for modifications oradditions, a save icon to save it as an XML file and a help icon toprovide online help.

Although preambles and questions are described as comprising textual andor audio components, they can also comprise of video or picture inputsthat are incorporated into the questionnaire. In addition, the multiplechoices for questions may comprise of video or image prompts.

FIG. 5 is a questionnaire preamble screen 505 of the questionnairecreation tool (QCT) 405 that facilitates audio recording ofquestionnaire preamble and entry of textual components for aquestionnaire preamble. Thus, both textual and audio components may beincorporated into a questionnaire preamble. The textual components willbe displayed at the beginning of a questionnaire in a mobile handset.The audio preamble will be played simultaneously. In one embodiment, theaudio preamble is played selectively based upon user request or basedupon configuration in the mobile handset.

The questionnaire preamble screen 505 comprises a initiate audiopreamble recording button 513 that, when invoked, opens up an audiorecording window, a save recorded audio button 515 that helps saverecorded audio as a file, wither locally or remotely, or as part of thequestionnaire, and a text input window 509 that facilitates the entry oftextual components of a questionnaire preamble.

FIG. 6 is a add question screen 605 of the questionnaire creation tool(QCT) 405 that facilitates entry of text for a question, entry ofmultiple choices of answers associated with a questions, display of thetext entered for the question, display of multiple choice answers forthe questions, and the storing of the question incorporation of theentered information as part of the questionnaire.

The add question screen 605 comprises a add text for a question button611, an add a choice button 613, a save the question button 609, adisplay the question panel 615 for the display of the entered text for aquestion, and a choices entered 617 list for the display of choicesentered. The add question screen 605 also facilitates the audiorecording of supplementary information for the question. Supplementaryinformation is displayed or rendered, as appropriate, when a useranswering the questionnaire on a mobile device requests supplementaryinformation that can help him understand the question and determine ananswer.

FIG. 7 is a questionnaire preamble screen 705 of the questionnairecreation tool (QCT) 405 with the recording actions window activated thatfacilitates recording of audio input for preamble and supplementaryinformation for questions. When the initiate audio preamble recordingbutton 513 is activated, the questionnaire preamble screen 705 opens upthe recording actions window that comprises a start recording audiobutton 709, a stop recording audio button 711 and a done button 713.Based upon configuration of the QCT 405, the recorded audio is eitherincorporated as part of an XML document (including binary data for therecording in some standard audio format such as wav format or midiformat), or saved separately as a file or as a web page with a referenceincorporated into the XML document for the questionnaire.

In one embodiment, the questionnaire is a test for the end-user and theright answers are sent to the mobile device along with the test. Thequestionnaire client tool in the mobile device displays the questions,plays/renders the audio components and textual components asappropriate, gathers the answers and evaluates them locally in order topresent results to the end-user taking the test without any interventionor support from the server-side other than the dissemination of thequestionnaire. In a related embodiment, the results are not onlycomputed and displayed in the local device but is also communicated to aquestionnaire server in the server-side. In another related embodiment,the results are computed but not displayed in the local device, and itis also communicated to a questionnaire server in the server-side.

While the present invention has been described with reference to certainembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. In addition, manymodifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material tothe teachings of the present invention without departing from its scope.Therefore, it is intended that the present invention not be limited tothe particular embodiment disclosed, but that the present invention willinclude all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Although a system and method according to the present invention has beendescribed in connection with the preferred embodiment, it is notintended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein, but on thecontrary, it is intended to cover such alternative, modifications andequivalents, as can be reasonably included within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by this disclosure and appended diagrams.

1. A trading system comprising: a server to trade on an opportunity tointeract (QTime) with users of mobile device; a plurality of remotetrading computers communicatively coupled to the server; the serverreceiving trading data from the plurality of remote trading computersand conducting trades in QTime. 2: The trading system according to claim1 further comprising: the trading data comprising a preferred volume ofQTime and at least one of a bid price, a sell price; the serveridentifying at least one seller and at least one buyer among theplurality of remote trading computers, from the trading data; and theserver executing at least one trade after it successfully matches the atleast one seller and the at least one buyer from the trading data. 3:The trading system according to claim 2 wherein the opportunity tointeract (QTime) is an opportunity to send a questionnaire to the usersand receive a response from them in return. 4: The trading systemaccording to claim 2, further comprising: the server tracking a firstavailability for sale of a QTime Supply from a first trading computerfrom the plurality of remote trading computers; and the serverdetermining a first price for the sale of the first availability ofQTime and communicating it to the first trading computer. 5: The tradingsystem according to claim 2, further comprising: the server tracking afirst need for QTime from a second of the plurality of remote tradingcomputers; and the server determining a first price for the purchase ofthe first need for QTime and communicating it to the second tradingcomputer.
 6. The trading system according to claim 2 wherein the servercomputes at least one of a buy price and a sell price for a unit ofQTime based on the amount of QTime currently available for purchase fromthe plurality of remote trading computers.
 7. A system supporting accessto a questionnaire, via a communication network, for a plurality ofelectronic devices, the system comprising: a customer attributesassociated with a corresponding user of each of the plurality ofelectronic devices; at least one database containing the questionnaire,the at least one database enabling access to the questionnaire; at leastone server communicatively coupled to the plurality of electronicdevices and to the at least one database, the at least one serverdistributing the questionnaire to at least one of the plurality ofelectronic devices based on the customer attributes.
 8. The systemaccording to claim 7 wherein the questionnaire is an audio-assistedquestionnaire comprising questions in audio form and multiple choices intextual form.
 9. The system according to claim 7 further comprising: theat least one server sending the questionnaire to at least one of theplurality of electronic devices along with the correct responses; the atleast one of the electronic devices facilitating the browsing andanswering of the questionnaire by the corresponding user; and the atleast one of the electronic devices collecting a user responses providedby the corresponding user for the questionnaire and comparing the userresponses to the correct responses and highlighting the differences ifany.
 10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the questionnaire is atest, each question of the questionnaire comprises multiple choiceselections, the correct responses is the anticipated answers to thetest, and wherein the at least one of the electronic devices displays auser results of the test after comparing the correct responses to theuser responses provided by the corresponding user.
 11. The systemaccording to claim 10 wherein the at least one of the electronic devicescommunicates the user results to the at least one server.
 12. The systemaccording to claim 9 wherein the at least one server identifies andmanages different categories of users based on how they can participatein questionnaires and surveys.
 13. The system according to claim 9further comprising: a questionnaire creation tool communicativelycoupled to the at least one server; the questionnaire creation toolcommunicating at least one of a questionnaire and a survey to the atleast one server for dissemination; and the at least one servercollating and reporting responses received from the at least one of theplurality of electronic devices back to the questionnaire creation toolor to a destination server.
 14. The system according to claim 10 furthercomprising: the at least one server tracking the activities of thecorresponding users of the plurality of electronic devices to determineif they make good targets for a next set of surveys and questionnaires.15. The system according to claim 14 wherein the activities trackedcomprising responding to questionnaires or surveys.
 16. The systemaccording to claim 13 wherein the at least one server computes andcommunicates a cost estimate to the questionnaire creation tool beforedissemination in order to provide a questionnaire creator an opportunityto purchase a block of QTime for the questionnaire.
 17. The systemaccording to claim 13 further comprising: an user profiles associatedwith the corresponding user of each of the plurality of electronicdevices; a target profile associated with the questionnaire; and the atleast one server targeting the plurality of electronic devices to be therecipients of the questionnaire based on the block of QTime purchased bythe creator, the target profile and the user profiles.
 18. A method oftrading, the method comprising: creating an item comprising anopportunity to interact with a mobile device user; determining thecurrent supply and current demand for the item; computing the currentprice of the item; and trading the item employing the current price. 19.The method of trading according to claim 18, the method furthercomprising: computing the future price of the item based on at least thecurrent supply and demand for the item; and trading the item employingthe future price of the item.
 20. The method of trading according toclaim 18, the method further comprising: computing the current price ofthe item based on at least one of its current supply, its currentdemand, its forecasted demand and forecasted supply; and conducting atrade based on the current price.